Mixing Breeds in the Flock

[ShrekDawg]

Yeah, definitely amazing the places chickens and especially chicks manage to find their ways into! And aw yeah, it would affect the pecking order I am sure!!!

And aww yeah it definitely is sad but fortunately besides squabbles from space issues, mine all get along. But I haven't introduced new ones yet. And yesh its really weird

 

[Phoenixxx]

I just bought 6 new breeds: rhode island red, buff orphongton, australorp, araucana (so called), black sex link, leghorn and have mature hens: 2 production red (i think), barred rock, australorp (thought it was a jersey giant but not large enough), and easter egger (i think). One lays a green egg. My plan is to keep them all together. My question is, if i raise them all together from chicks, will they get along? I raised some bantams from eggs and had trouble when introducing new chicks. One hen in particular would attack and kill the chicks. I know i have to wait til the chicks are grown and able to outrun the older ones to introduce them and i keep them in brood pens with hardware cloth facing the coop so they can all get used to each other. I just dont want a blood bath when i let them out. The ones i lost before were cornered and held down while the attacker pecked its brains out.

The coop is 108 sqft and im adding a 9x32 run all on the back of my pole barn with 12' wall sloping to about 9'. Roof follows the 4/12 slope of the barn roof. If i can keep 2 turkeys alive (One chick died already), i will have 20 birds in there.

I just toss them in. But then, I don't do anything "by the book". I have some 3 week olds that would be out with the grownups right now if it weren't for the darn temperatures! My flock is mixed, everything from a petite ameraucana pullet to big, beefy orp/brahma crosses. My coop is 6x8 and 8'high and "overcrowded" if you go by the square foot per bird guideline but I've never had an issue adding new birds or 3-week-old chicks. Well, except new, grown roosters. There was a spectacular cock fight a week ago when I brought in some new boys because my alpha and his first mate wouldn't step down. "Hot guy" had to be put in the addition with a few of his brothers. The barred rock roo I brought home was content to be bottom on the totem pole so he got to stay with the main flock.

If you can figure out who the attacker was, maybe pull that one out until the new kids are established. Then when you put her back in, she'll have to go through the hierarchy ordeal again and may find herself in a new, lower position. Do you have a rooster? They are very beneficial as they are the "police" of the flock and will keep order while protecting the youngsters.

 

[SillyRooster]

We just got our roo, Luke, four new hens, all red sex links. He had three young hens already, two olive eggers & a sex link named Cinnamon who seems to be in charge. Now he has seven hens. We just added the four new hens & they're easily figuring it out. There's been some wing flapping but no real fights.

 

[gpeters3]

If you can figure out who the attacker was, maybe pull that one out until the new kids are established. Then when you put her back in, she'll have to go through the hierarchy ordeal again and may find herself in a new, lower position. Do you have a rooster? They are very beneficial as they are the "police" of the flock and will keep order while protecting the youngsters.

No, I've sworn off roosters for the safety of the grandkids. I had a beautiful bantam rooster who acted like Godzilla and tried to fight with the large fighting cocks I stuck in there and they cornered him and nearly killed him so I let him range by himself, forever. He's gone now and so are the other roosters (in the freezer) but the little squirt was so feisty I just couldn't let him be killed by the other roosters. They were actually content to leave him alone but he kept picking fights You know what they say about bantam roosters? I'm sure a predator got him but I just couldn't watch. Anyway, the bantams are all gone (predators) and the hens I have now are all about the same level. I think the bantam deal was some kind of jealousy issue.

I'm on my desktop with win 7 and I cannot read what I'm typing. Anyone know how to enlarge the font in this editor? It's driving me crazy :-(

I'm going to try the portal ideas once I get the run finished. Worst case I will just put the chicks in the run with their brood pens on their side for cover and leave the hens in the coop til they are full grown.

I've got to get this font changed somehow..........

 

[gpeters3]

Ok, rich text editor and size worked. I can read it now as I type What I started to tell you about was the turkeys. I bought 2 to start with and one died so we went back and got 3 more. They are actually smaller than the chicks at this point. Hope they make it. I better get at the run before I run out of room. I can get 6 foot wide chicken wire and from past experience I think it will do, especially since they will only be in the run during the day. I will add some hardware cloth at the bottom just to be safe. A friend of mine lost 30 chickens in one night with an open top fencing. I didn't want them to fly out (never occurred to me predators could climb in) so I put a top on mine and it lasted 4 years with no issues.

If I see a need, I will put something heavier on it and will have to look into the automatic ramp closer to keep them inside at night. I think hawks were the culprits last summer so chicken wire is enough for them. We have coons here but apparently they haven't tried to get the chickens (yet).

Anyhow, it ought to be a fun flock when they are all grown. The kids will have a ball with them

 

[ShrekDawg]

Definitely sounds like fun! Good luck with them! I definitely think the portal and auto run closers are a good idea. The reason i havent bought an automatic closer yet is because of the cost although i saw a thread on here for a cheap version using a car antenna

 

[Phoenixxx]

No, I've sworn off roosters for the safety of the grandkids. I had a beautiful bantam rooster who acted like Godzilla and tried to fight with the large fighting cocks I stuck in there and they cornered him and nearly killed him so I let him range by himself, forever. He's gone now and so are the other roosters (in the freezer) but the little squirt was so feisty I just couldn't let him be killed by the other roosters. They were actually content to leave him alone but he kept picking fights You know what they say about bantam roosters? I'm sure a predator got him but I just couldn't watch. Anyway, the bantams are all gone (predators) and the hens I have now are all about the same level. I think the bantam deal was some kind of jealousy issue.

I'm on my desktop with win 7 and I cannot read what I'm typing. Anyone know how to enlarge the font in this editor? It's driving me crazy :-(

I'm going to try the portal ideas once I get the run finished. Worst case I will just put the chicks in the run with their brood pens on their side for cover and leave the hens in the coop til they are full grown.

I've got to get this font changed somehow..........

Yeah, I've learned that not all roos are created equally. I had one that turned vicious at maturity so I ate him, I have one now that will face off with my dog to protect his ladies, but mostly I've had chicken-@#*&s who wouldn't dare attack anything but would keep order in the flock and sound predator alarms. If you were nearby, I could donate you a docile, grand-kid-friendly peace-keeper

 

[whoodoo]

Ok, I have three girls right now , a silver laced polished crested, and two mix breed barred rock x rode island reds. They have been together about 3 weeks, my polish used to lay about 3-4 eggs a week, but has only laid two since I added the other two, supposedly the mixes were already laying but they're supposed to lay brown eggs, and I haven't gotten any from them. Anyone know why they wouldn't be laying ?

 

[gpeters3]

Definitely sounds like fun! Good luck with them!

I definitely think the portal and auto run closers are a good idea. The reason i havent bought an automatic closer yet is because of the cost although i saw a thread on here for a cheap version using a car antenna

It won't really be necessary. I left the old coop open to the run and never lost any birds to predation. It's just something I'm thinking about. Here are some pics of where the run will be: I already moved a truck load of stone and concrete block and loaded the truck for a run to the dump. This is what's left of the mess.






The run will go along the back wall of the barn, 9' wide by 32' long to the end of the barn so I will have an access door at the end of the barn and can simply set the posts, nail on the headers and throw the wire over it. The old run was concrete so I will have to consider ways to protect the bottom of the fence from digging etc. otherwise it will be a piece of cake If I get real ambitious I might pour a foundation along the fence line and later, if I make it into a shed, I can just pour the floor (piece of cake) Been doing this kind of stuff since I was 12. Built the barn myself and hired a backhoe to dig my hole for my auto lift and paid a crew to do the floor. Everything else I did myself with help from friends and family. It was my first pole barn and made a lot of mistakes but it works Before we put the nailers on I had the diagonal measurement at the top of the posts less than an inch off. After climbing all over them doing the nailers and headers it was a little over 3" off. I was really disappointed. Barn is 30 x 48.

 

[gpeters3]

We just got our roo, Luke, four new hens, all red sex links. He had three young hens already, two olive eggers & a sex link named Cinnamon who seems to be in charge. Now he has seven hens. We just added the four new hens & they're easily figuring it out. There's been some wing flapping but no real fights.

Just curious, does your rooster ever tear up the backs of the hens when mounting them? I suspect most of the problem I had was due to having more than one rooster. I know you can remove the spurs if necessary.